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“No worries, love. But,” she started yawning, “I should get to bed. It’s late here and I’ve got an early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I guess I should start getting ready for dinner. I don’t know that I can wear jeans and a sweatshirt.”
“Yeah, girl, go to that dinner looking hot, hot, hot, hot. You want every single brother at that table to be like, ‘I wish Mom had hooked me up with her.’”
“I don’t think so,” I laughed. “I think they’re all going to be staring at me like I’m some sort of loser.”
“There’s no way, Lucy. Trust me on that. There’s no way.”
Chapter Ten
I opened my suitcase and looked at the different dresses I had brought with me. Some of them didn’t really seem appropriate for a family dinner. I had known when I was leaving New York that some of them might not be appropriate for Montana, but I wasn’t sure exactly how country it was going to be.
Some were far too sexy. There was no way I was going down to the kitchen wearing what basically looked like a negligee. I didn’t want Amelia to think she’d sent for a prostitute to come to Montana to marry her son. I wanted to look fashionable and attractive, but not at the cost of being mistaken for a streetwalker. Finally, I settled on a flowery dress that I’d gotten at Banana Republic. It was cute and relatively modest, but it was still flattering to my figure.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was still slightly damp. I wanted to blow dry it out, but I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard. I applied some light foundation, a little bit of blush, a lot of mascara and eyeliner, and some lipstick. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. I looked pretty, some might even have said beautiful.
And I needed to feel pretty to be able to deal with the brothers and tell them everything that had gone on in my life before I’d arrived here.
I understood why they were suspicious of me. Not many people would just up and leave their home and fly to another state to meet some random man. But it wasn’t because I couldn’t get anyone else. It wasn’t because I had no life. It was because I was ready for a change, and Amelia had been so sweet and comforting when I’d spoken to her on the phone. She was almost like a surrogate mother. Part of me knew that one of the reasons I had come was just to be closer to her, to have that familial love that I missed from my own wonderful mother.
Tears started welling up again and I straightened my shoulders. I could not afford to cry right now. I had to be strong. There was no place in my life for being weak right now. I had to take care of myself. No one else was going to do it for me.
Well, there was Olivia. That was different, though. The comfort of a best friend was very different from a mom or dad. I didn’t even think twice about my dad, though. He was an asshole. Always had been, never really been in my life. I had no relationship with him. I didn’t even know if he was still alive.
I hated to think about my dad, about how he’d broken my mother’s heart. She’d loved him. She’d wanted to marry him. She had hoped when she’d gotten pregnant that he would make an honest woman out of her, but he hadn’t. He’d gone and married someone else, and I knew it had broken my mother’s heart. There’d been many nights when I was young that I could remember her just lying there crying, staring at his photograph. It’s weird the things you remember from your childhood. I couldn’t remember many things, but that memory was always fresh in my mind.
I let out a deep sigh and shook my hands and my arms around so that I could try and get out some of my anxiety before I left the room. I then walked down to the kitchen, trying to breathe in and out like I’d been taught in yoga class. My heart was racing and my palms felt clammy, but I was filled with energy and hope for the night. I was enjoying being on the ranch. It was unfamiliar, but it already felt homey—maybe because the Hamiltons were so close-knit. Their obvious love filled the air and put me at ease.
“Hi, Amelia. Is there anything I can do to help?” I said as I entered the spacious kitchen. I’d die for a kitchen like this.
“Oh, Lucy, thank you for asking,” Amelia looked at me with a smile, her long white-blonde hair up in a bun, “but it’s okay. The boys have set the table and dinner’s nearly ready. Would you like something to drink, dear?”
“Oh, sure. I’ll have another lemonade, please.”
“Oh, it’s dinner time. How about something a bit stronger? Do you like wine?” She winked at me conspiratorially.
I laughed. “I love wine.”
“Shall we have some red or some white?”
“Oh, whatever you’re having. I’m easy.” I inhaled the delicious aroma filling the room. I was hungry and looking forward to some home-cooked food.
“Are you now?” a deep voice said from behind me. I turned around as Austin walked into the kitchen. I kept a pleasant smile on my face even though I wasn’t that happy to see him.
“Am I what?”
“Easy.” He grinned, a wicked smile in his eyes as he looked me up and down.
“Austin, go and get us a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the wine cellar please,” his mother looked at him, her lips pressed together. “Lucy and I are going to have a drink.”
“You sure that’s wise?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me, Austin.” She put her hands on her hips. “Who do you think you’re talking to, son?”
“I’m just joking, Mom.” He held his hands up. “I’m just joking. Don’t shoot.” He started laughing as he made his way to the doorway. “I’ll head down to the cellar now.”
“Don’t mind him,” Amelia said with an exasperated smile. “He’s my most incorrigible son.”
